Where The Heart Is
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Matt Williams
Screenplay by	Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Based on	Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Produced by	Susan Cartsonis David McFadzean Patricia Whitcher Matt Williams
Starring	Natalie Portman Ashley Judd Stockard Channing Joan Cusack
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Edited by	Brooke Wilson
Music by	Mason Daring
Production company	Wind Dancer Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	April 28, 2000 (2000-04-28)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$40 million

Where the Heart Is is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Matt Williams and starring Natalie Portman, Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd, and Joan Cusack with supporting roles done by James Frain, Dylan Bruno, Keith David, and Sally Field. The screenplay, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, is based on the best-selling 1995 novel of the same name by Billie Letts. The film follows five years in the life of Novalee Nation, a pregnant 17-year-old who is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in a small Oklahoma town. She secretly moves into the store, where she eventually gives birth to her baby, which attracts media attention. With the help of friends, she makes a new life for herself in the town.

Plot

Pregnant, 17-year-old Novalee Nation and her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens, are moving from Tennessee to California. In the car, Novalee puts Willy Jack's hand on her belly and asks him if he can feel "where the heart is". Disturbed, Willy Jack lies and then abandons Novalee at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, when she went inside to use the restroom and gets some shoes, after losing them during the drive.

With no money and nowhere to go, Novalee begins secretly living in the Walmart, hiding until after closing. She meets "Sister" Thelma Husband, the local welcome wagon, who gives her a buckeye tree, and photographer Moses Whitecotton. When the tree becomes sick, Novalee seeks help at the local library, where she meets the curt librarian Forney Hull. Forney is a brilliant and out-of-place man from the East Coast. He had dropped out of college and became trapped in the blue-collar town to take care of his mentally and physically unwell sister, Mary Elizabeth, the "real" librarian.

Meanwhile, Willy Jack continued his way to California but stopped to pick up an attractive girl experiencing car trouble. They're quickly pulled over by local police: the girl is only 14, and Willy Jack is blamed and arrested when they find stolen merchandise in his car, which the girl had lifted from a 7-Eleven store before being picked up.

Alone in the closed Walmart, she's been living in for 6 weeks, Novalee goes into labor. Forney, who had realized she was homeless and living in the Walmart, smashes through the window to help deliver her child, whom she names Americus. Novalee becomes a media darling as the mother of the "Walmart baby." Donations and letters pour in, and Novalee is guaranteed a job in any Walmart for life. While in the hospital, Novalee is befriended by Lexie Coop, a cheerful nurse whose quest to provide her food-named children with a daddy always results in a new baby, and no new daddy.

Her estranged mother, Mama Lil, who left when Novalee was 5, visits after seeing her on television, but steals the donation money and Novalee is left abandoned and penniless with her baby once more. Sister Husband arrives and offers to take Novalee and Americus home to live with her. Novalee and Americus grow with the security of their new circle of friends and family. Novalee becomes especially close to Forney, who assists her in improving herself via books. Forney is infatuated with Novalee and adores Americus, but Novalee has sworn off men and is intimidated by his education, intelligence, and class background. The infant Americus is kidnapped while Novalee is Christmas tree shopping with Forney. The baby is recovered from a church nativity scene, where she had been left by a religious couple from Midnight, Mississippi who had previously written Novalee a letter saying her illegitimate child was an abomination.

Three years later, Novalee is starting a career as a professional photographer thanks to Moses's mentorship. Willy Jack has become a one-hit-wonder with a song he wrote in jail, signing with music agent Ruth Meyers in Nashville, who gives him a makeover and the stage name "Billy Shadow." Sister Husband is killed and their home destroyed when a tornado devastates the town. Sister left Novalee everything, which enables Novalee to build a house and realize her dream of living in a home without wheels under it and also quit her Walmart job to be a photographer full time. Novalee wins an award for a post-tornado photo she took of the buckeye tree and Americus, which she dedicates as a memorial to Sister. She realizes she is beginning to reciprocate Forney's feelings, though she still feels he deserves better than her.

Willy Jack has grown frustrated with the limits of his career and looks to replace his manager, Ruth. The replacement he interviews warns that Ruth is brutal and won't take kindly to being betrayed. In a vicious confrontation, Ruth, who has discovered his betrayal, refuses to assist with mitigating a lawsuit claiming Willy Jack stole his hit song from his former cellmate, Tommy, and drops him as a client. The combination of the lawsuit and Ruth's influence blacklist Willy Jack and his singing career is effectively over.

Novalee receives an alarming phone call from one of Lexie's children and rushes to Lexie's to discover she was nearly beaten to death by her most recent boyfriend, a predator who had targeted her to gain sexual access to her children. He attacked her as she protected them. Lexie's injuries keep her from working, so she and her children move in with Novalee and Americus. Lexie breaks down, feeling guilty and angry, tearfully regretting her choice of men, and Novalee helps her heal.

When Forney's sister Mary Elizabeth dies, Novalee finds and comforts him. The pair have sex and Forney confesses his love for her. Freed at last, everyone assumes Forney will leave to resume school, and the town hires a new librarian. Forney returns from a trip back East, and tells Novalee he will get a menial job at the plastics factory to stay with her, rather than complete his studies at Bowdoin College and fulfil his dream of becoming a history teacher. Novalee decides to lie and say she does not love him to prevent him from wasting his potential. Heartbroken, he returns to Bowdoin.

Lexie gets her happily ever after when she marries Ernie, a dopey exterminator who is not her usual type. She fell in love with him upon hearing he traded his restored 1967 Chevy Camaro for custody of his stepdaughter, whom he adopted as his own. Lexie also becomes pregnant again. Meanwhile, due to his ending career, Willy Jack becomes a depressed washout and addict. Drunk, he collapses on a railroad track and loses his legs when he is hit by a train.

On Americus' fifth birthday, Novalee sees a newspaper article about Willy Jack being robbed of his wheelchair. She visits him in the hospital, and he confesses his whole life would've been different if he had not lied about being able to feel the baby's heartbeat in the car the day he abandoned her. He warns about telling lies so big, they change your entire life. Although she warned Willy Jack to stay away from Americus, Novalee sees in him a changed man and forgives him. She brings him back home to Tennessee.

Taking Willy Jack's advice to the heart and realizing her mistake in lying to Forney, Novalee drives to Maine to find him at Bowdoin. She confesses she really does love Forney, but lied because he deserved something better. He says there is nothing better than her. The two marry in a Walmart, surrounded by friends and family.

Cast

• Natalie Portman as Novalee Nation, a pregnant teen who gets stranded in Sequoyah.
• Ashley Judd as Lexie Coop, a nurse who lives in Sequoyah and becomes Novalee's best friend.
• Stockard Channing as Thelma "Sister" Husband, a promiscuous religious woman in Sequoyah. She is the first to befriend Novalee when Thelma mistakes her for somebody she used to know years earlier.
• Joan Cusack as Ruth Meyers, a cranky music agent.
• James Frain as Forney Hull, a librarian in Sequoyah who becomes Novalee's love interest.
• Dylan Bruno as Willy Jack Pickens, Novalee's ex-boyfriend and presumably Americus' biological father.
• Keith David as Moses Whitecotton, a Walmart portrait photographer who later trains Novalee in photography.
• Richard Andrew Jones as Mr. Sprock, Thelma's partner.
• Sally Field as Mama Lil, the estranged mother of Novalee.
• Laura House as Nicki, one of Novalee's friends from Tennessee.
• Karey Green as Rhonda, one of Novalee's friends from Tennessee.
• Mark Vogues as a religious man from Midnight, Mississippi, who abducts baby Americus.
• Angee Hughes as a religious woman from Midnight, Mississippi, who abducts baby Americus.
• Margaret Hoard as Mary Elizabeth Hull, the sick sister of Forney.
• Mackenzie Fitzgerald as Americus Nation, the daughter of Novalee.
• Alicia Godwin as Jolene, a 14-year-old girl who ropes Willy Jack into assisting in her recent heist.
• Dennis Letts (the book author's husband) as an unnamed sheriff who arrests Willy Jack for being involved in Jolene's heist.
• Rodger Boyce as Officer Harry
• David Alvarado as Tommy Reynolds, a cellmate of Willy Jack during his time in prison. Willy Jack stole his song that he wrote about.
• Richard Nance as Johnny DeSotto, a known music agent who meets Willy Jack.
• Bob Coonrod as Ernie, an exterminator that becomes Lexie's love interest.
• Cody Linley as Brownie Coop, one of Lexie's children.
  • Adrian and Michael Garza as Young Brownie Coop (uncredited)
• Camryn Callaway as Baby Ruth Coop, one of Lexie's children.
  • Jessica Hinderliter as Young Baby Ruth Coop
• Shelby Callaway as Cherry Coop, one of Lexie's children.
  • Sarah Hinderliter as Young Cherry Coop
• Kaylie Harmony as Praline Coop
• Heather Kafka as Delphia

Jim Beaver had a part in the film as Clawhammer, but his scene was deleted.

Differences between novel and film

• In the novel, Novalee's aversion is to the number 7, however this is replaced throughout in the movie to the number 5 where appropriate
• Sister Husband has brown hair in the movie and blue hair in the novel.
• In the novel, Benny Goodluck gives Novalee a buckeye tree for good luck. In the film, Benny is omitted, and the buckeye tree was given to Novalee by Sister Husband.
• In the novel, Jolene is the daughter of a dive bar owner and shifted the blame of her convenience store robbery on him to the police that pull them over. In the film, Jolene's parents aren't mentioned.
• In the novel, Lexie is obese. She is constantly trying new fad diets and weight loss schemes. This aspect of her character is removed from the film version.
• In the novel, Walmart's owner Sam Walton gives Novalee a check while offering her a job at Walmart. Sam Walton's appearance was omitted from the film.
• In the novel, Willy Jack has a heart attack after being struck in the chest. In the film, he gets into a fight with his cellmate.
• In the novel, Willy Jack gets his guitar from the prison librarian Claire Hudson which used to belong to her late son Finny. In the film, it was mentioned that Willy Jack's later cellmate Tommy Reynolds gave him his guitar.
• In the novel, Sister Husband died from her injuries after being trapped in a trailer while visiting a neighbor. Her death is not shown in the film.
• In the novel, Moses has a wife named Certain, to whom Novalee becomes close when she and Americus move in with her after Sister Husband's death. She is entirely omitted from the film.
• In the novel, Ruth Meyers ends Willy Jack's career for going behind her back. In the film, she also ends his career when she gets a call from Tommy Reynolds' lawyer, who is suing Jack for taking the song "Beat of a Heart" from him.
• In the novel, Mary Elizabeth Hull dies in the fire at her library. In the film, she succumbs to the complications of her alcoholism.
• In the novel, Lexie marries her co-worker Leon Yoder. In the film, Lexie marries Ernie the exterminator.
• In the novel, Forney instead travels for some time before settling in Chicago. In the film, Forney returns to school.
• In the novel, Willy Jack makes it to California, where he fails to get money from his cousin in Bakersfield, tries to pawn his guitar for money which falls through, and ditches his current girlfriend, which leads to his train accident. In the film, his girlfriend goes into a restaurant to eat, leading to Willy Jack's train accident.
• Novalee's marriage to Forney only occurs in the film.

Music

Original music for the film was produced by Mason Daring. A soundtrack of the original music was released by RCA Records, as well as a music compilation soundtrack featuring songs used in the film by artists such as Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Martina McBride, and John Hiatt.

The song "That's the Beat of a Heart" was performed by The Warren Brothers and Sara Evans. A music video was made for the song, which is included as a bonus extra on the DVD release and features a number of scenes from the film.

Reception

References

External links

• Where the Heart Is at IMDb
• Where the Heart Is at Box Office Mojo
• Where the Heart Is full movie on Youtube